UBS Australasia chief Matthew Grounds said his firm has led its investment bank rivals in identifying a more profitable way to offer wealth advice, despite several false starts for the now spun off unit.

Crestone, the former UBS wealth management business, became a stand-alone operation on Tuesday after employees acquired the business from the Swiss bank.

The firm commenced operations this week with $14 billion of assets under management, about $1 billion less than when the changeover was announced last year. Still, the firm has 170 employees and 70 investment advisers, equating to the lion's share of advisers that were with UBS.

"You want to be first out not last out, and we think they [Crestone] have an offering that is going to be very compelling to other advisers," Mr Grounds said in an interview. "We think this is the best way for these businesses, of this scale, to be owned and managed."

Crestone has had a turbulent time, though. It was meant to be spun off last year but when executives realised the work involved to transition the business, they altered the structure to an acquisition and flagged an April start.

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The dial was then shifted to a June launch date. It comes as other firms grapple with how to make money in wealth and broking advice in Australia.

Macquarie Private Wealth and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management are among firms that have refined their business models in the past two years. There has been ongoing debate about the future of the broking and wealth management industries, including remuneration and technology, as some embrace so called robo-advice. Morgan Stanley Wealth is hoping to return to profitability after cutting commission payments to advisers for a second time.

Wilson HTM is now owned by employees, Deutsche Bank and Craigs Investment Partners.

Crestone chief Mike Chisholm said the ownership model put in place by his firm meant employee interests were aligned and that bodes well for clients.

"You get benefits from that long-term investment approach, which I think a lot of other wealth management firms are struggling to justify," he said, also noting Crestone's partnerships with other financial groups.

"We have chosen very carefully to be an advice only business ... so to provide all of those other products ... if you are trying to do those things yourself it suddenly becomes very costly."

Northern Trust is the new firm's principal sub-custodian and registered holder of the large majority of client assets.

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Mr Chisholm said the lion's share of Crestone's business reflected fee for service rather than commission-based payments.

Mr Grounds believes the industry is moving the way of Crestone.

"For us the decision was very simple. It was about people and clients and making sure we could provide them this opportunity and we could retain our relationships," he said.

"It is consistent with the way of the future," he said referring to aligning employee ownership, with board governance and Crestone having strategic partners.

UBS also has a distribution alliance with JBWere after former partner Bell Potter aligned with Citigroup.

Separately, Mr Chisholm shrugged off any potential for flagged changes to superannuation contributions by the Turnbull government to hit investment decisions of wealthy investors.

"When the environment changes and when the laws change, the first thing that clients need is well-educated advice," he said. "The reason why we've had such a success in bringing the clients over from UBS is because it's a long-term trusted relationship."

Joyce Moullakis writes on banking and finance, specialising in Investment Banking, Private Equity, Financial Services. Based in our Sydney newsroom, Joyce has over 12 years experience as a finance journalist, including a stint at Bloomberg News in London. Connect with Joyce on Twitter. Email Joyce at jmoullakis@afr.com.au

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